I'm in no place to critique you or anyone, but I think you could take advantage of the "break" more. By that, I mean when both of you actively break/disengage from clinch or throwing combos. Like I would see both of you just relax for a little and reset while you're both in range. But like I said, I might be missing some important variables such as conserving energy or straight up getting punished for trying to continue.

Eh, this isn't really good advice. When the ref breaks you, you have to be ready to go right back at it so you can be first to control the engagements. You want to take advantage of that space you're given by setting up your next advancement. That space just gives you room to take control and have room to attack.

I think that's what he was saying, his wording was just bad. i think what threw me here was having a ref break up the clinch, in sparring it'll usually break up naturally with one person pushing the other person off. As soon as that happens i like to try and kick their head off or step up knee.

"Boxing is the art of hitting an opponent from the furthest distance away, exposing the least amount of your body while getting into position to punch with maximum leverage and not getting hit."
Kenny Weldon

I think that's what he was saying, his wording was just bad. i think what threw me here was having a ref break up the clinch, in sparring it'll usually break up naturally with one person pushing the other person off. As soon as that happens i like to try and kick their head off or step up knee.

I was actually thinking he meant dirty-MT styles, not after a ref break...

AH, damn! That sucks about your shin! I'd always wondered after those checks if that came out, in training I'll still be covered in bruises and was wondering when I get the "Immortal Shins Of Non-bruising (EVAH)".

edit: d'oh, I misread and thought you were referring to the ref breaking you up. Even still, you want to make sure to be always controlling the offensive. That being said, the idea of recomposing after an exchange has merit, as you don't want to just charge back in as soon as you break. Break, get your stance back, but get right back on putting them on the defensive.

In a 5x 3 minute fight, it's a bit different since the first two rounds are typically going to be more paced for feeling each other out, but the idea is the same.

At the high professional level judges/refs get VERY anal about what throws or trips are legal (to the point of no boot-to-boot sweeps). In the amateur contests here, anything pretty much goes. I see multiple hip throws a night (which should be illegal) and i've seen full blown suplexes.

In terms of points most judges will award you a lot more points for a good sweep than a trip like i used in that fight, if i didn't suck so badly at Judo I'd be crosstraining in it now. Even if the throw you use is illegal and the ref actually picks you up on it you get two warnings, and you've taken a lot of morale out of the other guy by slamming him to the canvas.

"Boxing is the art of hitting an opponent from the furthest distance away, exposing the least amount of your body while getting into position to punch with maximum leverage and not getting hit."
Kenny Weldon

At the high professional level judges/refs get VERY anal about what throws or trips are legal (to the point of no boot-to-boot sweeps). In the amateur contests here, anything pretty much goes. I see multiple hip throws a night (which should be illegal) and i've seen full blown suplexes.

In terms of points most judges will award you a lot more points for a good sweep than a trip like i used in that fight, if i didn't suck so badly at Judo I'd be crosstraining in it now. Even if the throw you use is illegal and the ref actually picks you up on it you get two warnings, and you've taken a lot of morale out of the other guy by slamming him to the canvas.

Since we're both south paw, I'd suggest learning de ashi barai and getting it down good.

I use that a lot in MMA practice to great success. Having your left side as your power side makes this throw really easy.

You'd be surprised at how poor a right hander's base is on their left leg. My cousin who fights in Europe uses these two to great success despite not formally ranked in Judo.

If you watch his video here, he uses variants of tani otoshi and de ashi barai, when catching people's kicks. I've seen him use it in clinching as well in full Muay thai fights. It's great to catch someone when throwing a knee as it totally takes all the power out of their knee strike.

Kidspat - I always welcome your critique :). I've been working on ring generalship since my first fight and have had some good progression in sparring with this but it hasn't transferred over to my fights yet. I was WAY too worried about his pressure to take a deep breathe and think strategically. Do you see anything terribly wrong with the width of my stance? Maybe i should post up a picture tomorrow for you to evaluate, I had a similar problem with losing my footing in my 4th fight.

Post a picture, I love critiquing stuff :P

From the video, your stance looks fine to me. The problem I see is you have a tendency to bring your feet together a lot. When you advance, when you set your foot down after kicking, and when you clinch your feet come together and each time this happens and he attacks you get knocked back. That all goes back to staying relaxed and composed and not getting over eager. I had this problem too up until my last fight.